Woman Mauled By Jaguar At Arizona Zoo After Climbing Over Fence For Selfie

Woman Mauled By Jaguar At Arizona Zoo After Climbing Over Fence For Selfie

A woman in Arizona learned a painful lesson on taking adventurous selfies when she was mauled by a jaguar after crossing the barriers to get a snap with the wild cat.

By Jisha Joseph

March 12, 2019

Posted March 12, 2019

With social media taking over our lives, we find this overwhelming urge to portray our best lives online. This trend has an immensely negative impact on our society as a whole as it leaves a vast majority feeling unhappy with their seemingly 'boring' lives. Moreover, the ever-persistent compulsion to make our lives appear more interesting than it actually is, often leads to more than what one has bargained for. A woman in Arizona learned her lesson the hard and painful way when she ended up with a mauled arm while trying to capture an adventurous selfie.

Source: YouTube

The woman in question was attacked by a jaguar after she climbed over the barricade to take a selfie with the wild cat. According to People, the shocking incident occurred on March 9 at the Wildlife World Zoo in Litchfield Park. Witnesses claim the victim, a woman in her 30s, had crossed the barrier of the jaguar's enclosure to get a better photo with the animal when it reached out and swiped at her. The woman was reportedly bleeding profusely after the jaguar's claws left severe lacerations on her arm. Quite a hefty price to pay for a selfie, isn't it?

Zoo officials quickly jumped to action and transported the woman to the hospital, where luckily for her, her injuries were revealed to be non-life threatening. Speaking about the woman's condition, Shawn Gilleland of the Rural Metro Fire Department said that she was stable. A video shot by an eyewitness shows the woman lying on the floor nursing her mauled arm while crying in pain. The footage also reveals a deep gash on the woman's arm. Zoo officials acknowledged the incident in a statement where they said the event occurred when the guest crossed over the barrier to get a photo with the animal.

We regret to inform that this evening, before closing there was an incident reported involving a guest, who crossed over the barrier to get a photo, according to eyewitnesses. The visitor sustained non-life threatening injuries to their arm from one of our female jaguars. At the request of the family, paramedics were called. At no time was the animal out of its enclosure. The incident is being fully investigated, the statement shared via the zoo's Twitter handle reads. Along with the statement, the zoo shared a message urging guests to respect the barricades in place for their safety.

Please understand why barriers are put in place. Sending prayers to the family tonight, the message reads. Adam Wilkerson, who was at the zoo with his family at the time of the attack described the incident in detail to CNN. Wilkerson said he ran over to the jaguar's enclosure when he saw someone come running around the corner yelling for help. "Without thinking, I had no idea what I was going to see, I just ran over there. I saw the other girl up against the fence with her arm caught in the jaguar's claws," he said. He added that though he was standing behind the victim, he was reluctant to pull her away.

Source: YouTube

"I could see the claws in her actual flesh," he said. Finally, it was Wilkerson's mother who managed to free the woman thanks to her quick and clever thinking. In an attempt to shift the jaguar's attention away from the woman, his mother ran up behind him and shoved her water bottle through the cage. Her brave efforts bore fruit as the jaguar, distracted by the bottle, let go of its victim. Wilkerson said, "When my mom put the water bottle through the gate, the jaguar let go of the girl. And we pulled the girl back and she collapsed."

CNN was reportedly able to obtain a 911 call placed by a zoo employee in which the person can apparently be heard saying that the woman's arm was in "pretty bad shape." The employee is said to have told the dispatcher, "She's doing OK... but her arm is like bad," adding that the injured arm had been under pressure. "She's in pain, like really bad pain," the employee said. Wilkerson said hadn't actually witnessed the jaguar attacking the woman and hence could not comment on how the woman got so close to the animal. He further revealed that there were no zoo employees nearby during the horrifying incident.

While, according to Daily Mail, Zoo director Mickey Ollson said this is the second time in a month that the jaguar has swiped at a visitor. The zoo revealed the animal would not be put down as a result of the incident. Responding to Twitter user Jessie Geroux's concern for the animal, the zoo tweeted, We can promise you nothing will happen to our jaguar. She’s a wild animal and there were proper barriers in place to keep our guests safe- not a wild animals fault when barriers are crossed. Still sending prayers to her and her family.